|
THE ROAD TO
POLE
* Red Bull driver Sergio Perez won the first F1 Sprint of the year at Baku,
using the P Zero Yellow medium tyre. The Mexican started from P2 on the grid
and managed to get past poleman Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) following a Safety
Car preceded by a Virtual Safety Car, which was caused by on-track debris as
a result of an incident involving AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. The other Red
Bull of Max Verstappen finished third. Perez continued his successful form
in Baku, adding to his total of four podiums in seven grands prix (one win,
one second place, and two third places).
* Leclerc set the fastest lap in the new Sprint Shootout this morning –
1m41.697s – that determined the grid for the F1 Sprint in the afternoon. The
Ferrari driver underlined his recent supremacy over a flying lap in Baku,
having already taken three consecutive pole positions from five qualifying
sessions there. Perez and Verstappen were second and third, 0.147s and
0.290s behind respectively. Mercedes driver George Russell was fourth with a
time of 1m42.252s. The SQ1 session was interrupted a few seconds from the
end by Williams driver Logan Sergeant impacting the wall. Leclerc also
didn’t complete his final SQ3 run after brushing the barriers in Turn 5,
which additionally compromised his team mate Carlos Sainz’s flying lap.
* McLaren driver Lando Norris and Tsunoda were the only two drivers not to
keep a new set of soft tyres after Friday’s sessions. The Englishman ended
SQ2 with the 10th fastest time and so could have taken part in the final
Sprint Shootout but was unable to participate as he didn't have a new set of
softs available, as required by the regulations.
* All the drivers used the medium tyre to start the F1 Sprint race, with the
exception of Norris on used softs and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas on new
softs. Norris and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon were the only drivers to change
tyres during the F1 Sprint.
* Weather conditions for today’s race were similar to qualifying. Between
the Sprint Shootout and F1 Sprint, track temperature dropped by 10 degrees
centigrade from a peak of 48 degrees in the morning.
* Leclerc claimed the Pirelli Sprint Shootout Award for his P1 on today’s
grid. The Monegasque received a Pirelli cap personalised by artist Saiff
Vasarhelyi in the colours of the Azeri flag. The cap forms part of a capsule
collection from Pirelli’s new merchandise range, as a variant of the iconic
podium cap. |
STRATEGY
NOTEBOOK:
A one-stopper should be the quickest strategy according to simulations,
starting on the medium before stopping for the P Zero White hard between
laps 13 and 18. A slower alternative is to start on soft and then switch to
hard between laps eight and 13. Drivers opting for this strategy will have
to manage the hard compound carefully, considering the chance of warmer
temperatures tomorrow.
Any two-stopper, which is slower on paper but may end up being used if the
race is neutralised at any point, would optimally entail starting on the
medium. The first option is to change to the medium again between laps 10
and 15, followed by a final stint on hard between laps 25 and 30. To swap to
hard at the first stop already, this needs to be brought forward to between
laps eight and 13, with the second stop coming between laps 27 and 33.
MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“The new-format Sprint weekend made this a rather different Saturday at
Baku. We saw a spectacular and competitive shootout, with this afternoon’s
race probably more closely-fought than it would have been had the result
determined the grid for the grand prix, as was the case up to the end of
last year. The medium tyre was chosen by the large majority of drivers (17
out of a total 19, as Sargeant didn’t start), with a roughly equal split
between new sets and used sets: eight versus nine. This showed how the
medium was able to offer not only good peak performance, having been used by
all the drivers in SQ1 and SQ2, but also its ability to maintain that level
over a notably longer distance. As expected, some of the teams that didn’t
expect to have much of a chance of scoring points today used the 17 laps of
the sprint race to try two different compounds and gather extra information
ahead of tomorrow’s grand prix. From our point of view, an initial view of
the data suggests a one-stopper to be the mostly likely strategy, probably
using medium and hard. A total of 18 drivers will have two sets of hard
tyres available, which would allow them to capitalise on any eventual
neutralisations: distinctly possible on this street track, as we saw today
both in the Formula 2 Sprint Race and the Formula 1 Sprint.” |
